Thursday, April 12, 2012

Aromatherapy Thursday - Peony (a fragrance oil)

In the late spring, right before school was let out for summer vacation, we often would take a trip to visit my Grandmother "Up-North." At that time I lived about 4 hours away and since there were no such thing as portable TVs and the closest thing to music we had was an 8-track, it seemed to have taken for ever. But we would finely make that turn down the country lane that was their driveway and slowly make our way through the gravel trying not to stir up too much dust and fling rocks everywhere. A sure sign that I had arrived at my Grandmother's house was the row of peonies that lined the drive as we approached her yard. The deep pink were my favorite to look at but the light pink, while not as showing, were the first to greet my senses. Over the years I have grown to adore the sent of peonies as it brings me right back to the memories of my loving Grandmother and how good it felt to finally stretch those achy legs.

The greatest gift from the Peony flower is its muscle relaxing properties. It can used as a soothing balm and message lotion and the scent is so much more pleasant than Ben Gay. It is also known to be helpful topically during menstrual cycles in relieving cramps. Unfortunately to really benefit from that property you have to make it fresh right from the flowers because there is no way to save the natural scent or oil past a reasonable amount of time. Thank goodness for synthetic oils but they most likely will not have that same property; they just smell nice.

Peony is not known in aromatherapy because there are no true natural essential Peony oils made. It is one of those flowers that during the distillation process the scent becomes spoiled. But since I love the scent of Peony so much I thought it would be worth mentioning in my Thursday's post. Fragrance is an important part of my life and although these are synthetic I see my spirits just completely lift when I start warming my favorite candles and diffusers. Make sure that you look for a top grade fragrance oil and that it is not "cut" if you want to purchase the oil itself. There are also many nice products that use Peony fragrance already made for you and ready to go.

Peony has a definite floral scent but it is light and sweet. Pink Peonies freshly cut and brought into a room will change the entire atmosphere. If you live, like I do now, where these are not abundant or it is out of season, bring in a lovely Pink Peony candle. I really hope you do get a chance to test the scent because I think you will find it as pretty and soothing as I do.

Always test for allergies and sensitivities prior to using products that contain essential or fragrant oil. Aromatherapy and holistic remedies should always be discussed with your physician prior to use and should never take the place of medical treatment.

I came across your blog wile seaching for a true peony scent. The fragrences I have been finding are powdery and not the sweet, rosey, green, dewy scent I know as a peony. I started making candles two years ago in the hopes of finding a peony scent but am still looking. Thanks for the post! I am going to check out your links!